A beautiful morning at AKL.

Another day of sleeping in. Part of me felt guilty for missing so many rope drops, but I suppose that is the beauty of the off-season – you don’t get punished as much for sleeping late. Anyway, after coffee, a light breakfast, and a quick load of laundry, CP and I headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a late breakfast at Boma. We hadn’t eaten breakfast there since 2008, and as a breakfast lover (and recovering vegetarian) I was eager to get back.  I had noticed when we visited AKL on Sunday that there was a new Boma check-in desk in the main lobby, so we first stopped there to see if we should check in for breakfast. They in fact directed us downstairs to the normal check-in desk, where we waited impatiently behind a guy who was oblivious to the fact that he was over an our late to his ADR. He really didn’t think that should matter. Much to Disney’s credit they seated the man and his family (before us, even!), so soon we checked in and met our server, Megan. Like many other Boma servers, Megan is a local Orlando resident, and she was just lovely. She set us up with good coffee and juice, and we were on our way.
Boma breakfast didn’t disappoint. Unlike Boma dinner which is good but maybe overpriced, Boma breakfast is both good and a good value. The scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives were my favorite thing on the menu. We left breakfast full but not sickly full, and headed out without a set plan. What to do?  In a spur of the moment decision, we decided to try mini golf and headed for Fantasia Gardens. The verdict? Fun! Hot. And a hard course. We got a discount on our game by virtue of our annual passes, too, so we were pleased. Pleased and very over par!

After one round we headed back to Old Key West to refresh ourselves, change into shorts, and regroup. My grandparents were out to lunch with some friends who live locally, so we were on our own. We decided to make a quick run to Target (not on 192) for some more Advil and blister block (have to keep the feet in good shape!), and on the way back we decided we wanted…more mini golf! This time, we headed to Winter Summerland, where we played both courses. It was wonderful – unlike Fantasia Gardens both courses here were shaded and pretty empty, so we played two rounds, each of us winning once.

We head back to OKW and find my grandparents there with their friends, playing cards. We politely make ourselves scarce until the friends leave, and then CP and I have frozen pizza and some bad beer (sometimes we try new things and find new favorites; this time we found a dud) for dinner. Around 5:20, we head out with my grandparents, who are oddly quiet – solemn even – and make our way to the Magic Kingdom. CP and I would be attending the Christmas party this evening, and my grandparents decided to tag along to see the Castle lighting beforehand. My GF also remarks that he wants coffee and a baked good from the Main Street bakery. We park in Scar 113, and take a packed express monorail to the front of the Magic Kingdom. CP and I jump in the Will Call line to pick up our party tickets, and we meet my grandparents on the other side of the turnstiles.

The four of us walk up Main Street and find a good spot to watch the Castle lighting. I found the show a bit hokey, but the lighting itself was gorgeous – my grandmother was definitely moved, although my grandfather was harder to read.  Afterward we fought the stream of traffic moving up Main Street to backtrack to the bakery, where my grandparents split a double chocolate muffin and had coffee and cocoa. CP and I didn’t find anything we liked at the bakery, so we popped into the Confectionary and picked up a Rice Krispie treat turkey leg! We rejoined my grandparents and sat quietly, people watching. For people who really wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom with us, my grandparents were oddly reserved. I worried I had done something or said something, and felt that familiar pang of worry that I wasn’t doing a good enough job at entertaining everyone. (Not sure who gave me that job!) In any case, my grandparents departed shortly before 7, and CP and I were free to “party.”

After reading up on Christmas party logistics I knew we’d be better off waiting to see the 2nd parade of the night, so we decided to ride things first and do party activities later. Our first stop was Big Thunder Mountain, which had no line, and which we rode twice. Instantly, we saw something that made the price of party admission totally worth it – the Cast Members were BESIDE themselves with happiness. They sang, they danced to the Christmas music, they laughed together, they were the Disney Cast Members from another time that you long to meet, and here they were.  We hopped off BTMRR and headed to Pirates, which also had no wait. IN Adventureland we got our first cocoa of the evening, and then headed to Fantasyland, where we rode Peter Pan with very little wait. For our second trip in a row we were thwarted in our attempts to ride Dumbo; in May the line was too long, and this evening the ride was down. I’m a little sad about this now that the original Dumbo has been moved/updated, but what can you do?

So long, Snow White...

Speaking of farewell rides, we then headed to Snow White (wow those ride vehicles are small) and to the teacups.  Then it was off to Space Mountain, which was the roughest, most painful ride through space I’ve ever taken. I speculate that it’s because we were the only people in the ride vehicle, so we had a faster hurl through space.  Feeling grateful I didn’t break my neck, we staggered off SM and regrouped with some soda from the Lunching Pad.  We also downed a few Advil, too, trying to ward off any SM-related pain. After that I asked CP to humor me with a ride on Buzz Lightyear. She absolutely slayed me! And then fell off the ride, seriously bruising her knee. Thank goodness for the Advill!

Feeling a little discombobulated, we headed to the TTA for a leisurely trip around Tomorrowland. We

Slayed.

watched the Christmas show while aboard, and then grabbed some more cocoa and cookies in Tomorrowland before heading back to Main Street. Our mission? It’s hard to admit, but we were stalking Duffy. You want to hate him, but you just can’t, and CP in particular wanted to get a picture with him.  Duffy was stationed near Town Hall and had nearly no line, so we jumped in behind the cutest ever Korean grandma who was SO happy to meet Duffy. Their meet & greet took nearly ten minutes, but neither CP nor I minded because they were just so darn cute together!  We then got our pictures taken with Duffy, who, I must admit, was pretty adorable.

Feeling emboldened (this was our first every character experience!), we headed over to get our pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie. This was more of a lackluster experience, as M&M weren’t very interactive, the Cast Members not very enthusiastic, and the Photopass photographer took some bad pictures both with her own camera and mine. Ah, well.  Next it was off to the Emporium to browse before Holiday Wishes. The fireworks actually started while we were still in the store, so our viewing location wasn’t the best, but the show was completely amazing. Even CP – not generally a Wishes fan – was pretty blown away.

When it was over, CP got a little cranky, and suggested we leave since she was feeling tired. I wrote in my notes that I “cranked right back,” arguing that leaving then would be a tremendous waste of money and experience. She tentatively agreed, and I suggested that we take one more ride on BTMRR and see how we feel. Afterward, we stop in the Frontierland pin store, and in another first, CP makes her first trade – with a mannequin!  The Santa mannequin was a special one on display for the party, and on Santa’s lanyard was a Pluto pin CP just had to have (CP being perhaps the biggest fan of Pluto I’ve ever met). The Cast Member had no problem allowing us to make the trade, so we got rid of one of our 40th anniversary duplicates. Suddenly, a new addiction was born.

By this time CP has gotten her second wind, so we decide to stake out a spot in Frontierland for the 10:30 parade. Now, I’m not really a parade fan, but I had heard many good things about this parade and figured we should get our money’s worth out of the party. I’m so, so glad we did; CP is too. The parade was AMAZING. The best part of the parade actually happened

Moments after meeting us, Duffy found his way to his float, just in time.

next to us in the crowd, when CP and I glanced to our left and noticed that we were watching the parade with the Country Bears! It was such an unscripted character moment that you just don’t get to see very often anymore. They danced with us, posed for pictures, and got called out by Santa from the parade. He asked “have the bears been good this year?” and the bears’ handler, who wasn’t so successful and getting the bears to do what she wanted yelled back “NO! They have not been

Why hello there.

good AT ALL!” It was delightful.

Afterward, we took one more ride on BTMRR. The night was cool and the stars were out in force, and it was really a beautiful moment. We walk back toward Main Street, stopping in at the Emporium to buy pins and magnets and fawn over the Duffy merchandise (so embarrassing, I know).  On the way out happy Cast Members give us squares of Ghirardelli peppermint chocolates. We hop on the resort monorail, wait for the tram for about 10-15 minutes, and have an easy drive back to OKW. We arrive back, happy and tired.

A few  other party highlights:

Aww.

Henry and CP traded pins.

Nothing to see here, just dancing to Flo Rida...